A Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket nearly burnt the owner in his pocket due to a malfunction. Is this just seemingly humorous collection of incidents of very hot phones, or is there a serious flaw which smartphone makers should look at?

We recently saw a fair share of drama where Samsung was allegedly copying various Apple's technology and design from their iPhone and iPad on Samsung's GALAXY series of mobile devices, but it seems one GALAXY S II Skyrocket even mimicked the recent string of events where Apple iPhones caught fire spontaneously. It was reported that the Long Term Evolution (LTE) enabled smartphone heated up and emitted smoke while still in the pockets of an independent developer associated to mobile developer website and forum XDA.

The cause of the malfunction is believed to be similar to the kind which caused the iPhones to self-combust. This involves faulty Lithium-ion batteries that accumulate heat to the point where surrounding material could melt or burn. While it takes quite a dent to cause a Lithium-ion battery to fail in this manner, it is also noted that both iPhones had previously visited areas of high altitude before being showing signs of severe problems.

Until the problems have been fully rectified, perhaps it is wiser to keep the phone at more common operation elevations.